July 5, 2011

Hi,

Thank you for the emails. So I only got 75 minutes total for emails today and it seems that the less time I have the more people email me. But I will try to get everything I want to say within the amount of time that I have left, 26 mins. Mom you are funny, you sure do crack me up. You were thinking you were going to write less this time because of your arm but you wrote the same if not more than usual, but I love hearing from you. I am sorry to hear about your arm. Well I hope your surgery goes well this Friday I will be praying for you and thinking about you. We had In-N-Out today and I thought of dad and got a double double for you :) Our remote for our car broke so we had to go to the dealership to see what was wrong with it, basically they are ordering a new one, shortage in the device.

Thank you for the birthday presents as well they were great I love my ring. It was great to hear moms voice to that was the best thing that night. So awesome, but we went and had lunch with all the sisters. I got 4 birthday cakes throughout the whole week it was the best birthday I have had in a couple of years.

 

Well, I won't be able to tell you everything that I want to because I don't have a lot of time. But a thought I would like to leave with you is this. This life is hard but we make it harder when we don't do what he asks us to do. Heavenly Father is bound by laws as well, and that's a trick that Satan uses on us too, that we shouldn't have any laws. But the laws protect us. (3 Nephi 18:25) He can only protect us and help us when we keep his commandments.

 

It's like the story that was told about the young man who was driving home one night and got pulled over. He was told that if he brakes the law the holy ghost can't abide with him and protect him because He is bound by laws as well. We are protected and safe when we do as Heavenly Father asks us to do. And we should do it out of love and nothing else, love is the most powerful force in this world. Jesus Christ was able to overcome everything because of love. We all have trials but they make us stronger depending on how we react to them, we will only find temporal joy in the worldly things. Satan can not satisfy our hunger very long but Christ can satisfy that hunger forever because he is the living water and when we drink from it we shall never thirst nor hunger. I have tons of new stories from this past week but I only have 8 mins left :( The library was closed yesterday so we couldnt email then but next week for sure and I probably will have more stories then. But we had to be in by 6 yesterday, we went to the Lords house for dinner sooo fun!! Loved it.

I love you and miss you both. I will talk to you next week sorry I couldn't write very much and I didn't answer all your questions. LOVE YOU!!!

Love Sister Heather Clevenger :)

June 27, 2011 NEED TO BE SPIRITUALLY UPLIFTED... READ THIS ONE!!

Hello Mom & Dad

Well things are getting better. Sometimes the Lord brings us low so he can rise us up. Its a very humbling experience and I am grateful for it all. You get the worst of worst and the best of best. We are literally fighting with Satan, sometimes it gets frustrating but its amazing the power of the Atonement Yesterday was amazing the Canyon Gate ward welcomed home one of their sister missionaries, they had three out now its down to two. But it was great and just the thing that I needed, it was an answer to my prayers. This past week has been hard there has been a lot of struggles and trials but her talk helped me so much.

 

Thank you for the Birthday wishes. Its kind of weird to have a birthday on a mission but everyone has been so loving about, its awesome. I think most of the ward knows, so probably over half the ward. We got cake on Saturday night from the Goodnoughs, Brother Goodnough reminds me of Grandpa so much its funny. Also we went to the Deckers to decorate their door because it was Sister Deckers birthday that day so we got caught in the process basically. We were driving off and her grandsons Kaden and Van were running down the road and sister decker came out as well so we turned around :) And they gave us cake as well it was pretty awesome. So we went in and saw her family and met more of her kids.

 

I got the package on Saturday I wasnt going to open it but I decided to because I kind of figured that you wrapped my presents. But I havent opened them yet I am going to wait until tomorrow. But thank you for the scentsy stuff, I was just wishing last week to have something to make the apartment smell good, and I was going to go buy a candle but now I dont have to :) Thank you so much!!

 

My companion and I are getting a long well. Its always a learing experience but I have noticed that she is more like you dad and jeff, and that Sister Sprouse was like you mom. So it has been good to learn and grow from them and understand more of how I can become better. This past week though I have come to understand that I am struggling more because it is a hard process to become a leader and thats what I am learning right now. How to take the lead and be an example to others. But though its so hard and frustating Heavenly Father is right here next to my side to help me through it all.

Thank you for the scriptures I will look them up during personal study. I have learned so much through studying the scriptures in the morning. This transfer for me and reading the scriptures I have learned so much more and my understanding and knowledge of them are increasing more than I even know for myself. One experience this past week was we were over at sister Lords house for dinner. She just had surgery on her knee as well so you mom and her are in the same boat but I was giving the spiritual thought for the night. Well I had this in mind from proverbs 23. I wasnt sure on the verse but I thought that it would be good and I can just skim through it and find it. But when I was looking for it I couldnt find it so I told her about the time we were over at the MacKays house and the same thing happened over there. The scripture that I was thinking of sharing wasn't the one that Heavenly Father wanted me to share. Well the same thing was with Sister Lords, Heavenly Father knew what she needed and I had the thought come to me to just go to where I was studying that morning. Well I did and this one verse that stood out to me that morning was what she needed. She was teary eyed and I realized that Heavenly Father knows his children so well and he knows exactly what they need and I am just an instrument in his hands. But through having scripture study in the morning I helped one of his children in need. I have come to learn that my scripture study in the morning isn't for me but for Gods children that I come to meet everyday. But the scripture I shared with Sister Lords was 3 Nephi 7:18 and it was about Nephi going out and preaching the gospel and the faith that he had in so doing. I really love this verse because at the very end it says that he had so much faith that angels ministered unto him DAILY. That is an amazing thing to have angels administer unto you daily, we can all have this same great faith that Nephi did and we can be blessed to have angels administer unto us daily as well.

 

Today I was reading 3 Nephi 12 and I realized that this is where Christ gives his new commandments I never noticed it before but it was amazing to see all that he taught the people. But verse 15 and 16 stood out to me. It says that a man lighteth a candle and does not put it under a bushel to be hid but on a candelstick to be shone to everyone. Then in verse 16 it says "let your light so shine.....that they may see your good works" These verses are talking to us as members of the Church of Jesus Christ. We are to be examples to all we have the light of Christ upon us and we must not be ashamed of it but must go forth and let the world see it that it may be an ensign to all nations and people and that through our good works they may come to know God. I love what President Uchtdorf said in his talk "preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words". Our actions speak louder than our words, every parent knows that so well because a child learns from the actions of their parents how their children grow up to be is how their parents were and showed them to become. I was reading the Chasity pamphlet they have and it says we must be clean in thought, action, and speech. What we speak and how we speak about things shows a lot of how are hearts are and the thoughts that come to our mind. Our actions are a reflection of our thoughts and are then a reflection of our hearts desires.

 

I read this book recently called "As a Man Thinketh" it was a great book you can get at Deseret Book for like $5 by James Allen. But he talks about how our thoughts determine our action but also the things that we produce and the people that we attract are in all sense how we really are. If we think bad then we do bad, our thoughts proceed our action. If we are mean and rude to people we can see that our thoughts are not righteous or pure, and we come to see that our hearts are not in the right place either. There were some many great quotes that I got from it that I wrote down but left at home. Hopefully next week I will remember them. I have come to know so much more of my savior on a mission and it has been a blessed journey to go through. I couldnt have asked for anything better, and there wasn't any other way for me to come to know Jesus Christ than to do as he has done and go through what he has gone through. Today for companion study we were talking about our hearts and mind. Sister Sprouse and I had this converstation before because she wants to know what I think but I like to know how people feel, I want to know whats in your heart not whats in your mind. And I realized going along with the book that I read that the heart and mind are so intertwained they go hand and hand. The desires of our hearts produce the thoughts we have and then produces the actions that come. In 1 Nephi it talks about three human senses see, hear, and know; all of them are necessary for every person to experience in this life in order to gain a testimony. We must know, meaning feeling with our hearts of this, we must see it and hear it meaning with our minds, but its through reading the words of christ and then going out and exercising that faith and seeing the fruits of your labors. The fruits of what we produce will show us the efforts that we are putting forth in our life. If we are not having sweet moments of joy we are not doing what is asked of us.

 

We were in the car today as well and I was thinking about how I am in Vegas. Vegas is such a bad place to be especially the strip because of all the wickedness that comes forth from this place but though there is terrible things there are also many righteous things. Here its black and white there is no gray, you can't afford to be gray here or any where. Its amazing that once we realize what side we want to be on will make all the difference of the joy and happiness that we will experience in our life.

 

Yesterday Courtney Wattles came home and gave her coming home talk. She was serving in the Kirtland OH mission, the historical site area. But she talked about the refiners fire. We all must go through it. The refiners fire is our trials, it goes along with Hebrews 11:40. We are to be shaped and molded into a better person. Trials come not because God hates us or doesn't love us but they come because he does love us. He loves us so much that he wants us to become like him and that process is through experiencing trials and struggles. This is how he has become what he is today, through this same process that we ourselves are going through. He loves us so much more that he even gave us his Son Jesus Christ to go through so much more. He gave this precious gift to us to know and to learn upon because through Jesus Christ we can conquer all; Heleman 5:12

 

So Saturday I was struggling, I remember kneeling down to pray that night and just crying to my Heavenly Father. I didnt know what to do and I felt so many emotions. I am still trying to learn and understand myself and its very hard most times. I realized that when I give myself, I give my heart away and for me its a scary thing, it freaks me out. So it was rough for me because I realized when transfers came that day that I give away my heart every time and I don't like it because I am afraid that I am going to get hurt. So Saturday I was still dealing with it and I prayed to Heavenly Father for peace and help. Well when Courtney gave her talk she answered my prayers. She said that she gave her heart away to this lady she was teaching, in that moment, I knew that it is okay to give my heart away. Then came this voice in my head that said don't worry about it, let it alone. It brought so much peace to me because I was struggling so much but those words helped my heart so much. I realized even more today that I am on a mission and Heavenly Father has asked me to give all my heart to him but this also means to all those that I teach and see, every single person I come in contact with I am to give my heart away, to give all that I have. So when I come to the alter of God I have nothing left more to give but once I come to the alter, he is going to give me so much more, he is going to give it all back to what I have just given and he's going to give me more than what I have given.

 

There will be moments when things are so hard to handle and you don't know what to do but Heavenly Father is here for all of us. We are learning and growing to become leaders. It's a hard process but the blessings will be so worth it. Those moments of enlightenment will be like the Heavens opening up and pouring out its blessings upon you. You will need help through it all, but just remember that angels will be around about you to bear you up. You will feel their love and power guiding you along the way. I know that Heavenly Father loves us so much that he wants us to become even more like him.

 

I was excited to see the baby shower invite, thank you for it. I am glad you are doing it on my birthday, I know that one day the baby will look back and remember that they celebrated that day for her on my birthday. Thank you!

 

Our investigators are doing good. I have seen so much of the things I have gone through in my past through so many people. Its scary because I feel like I have to relive it but its comforting to know that I have overcome it because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and his love and forgiveness is beyond measurement.

I have come to find out that people just have to move on from the things that have happened and "let it alone". It is hard to see people not change, but I have come to see that everyone has their agency and sometimes they are just not willing to change. Everything starts from the heart if we don't have that desire to understand or want to change then they are just going to stay the same. It's hard to see people not have that desire, but there's not much you can do about it. It was interesting to see that Christ gave all that he had for us, his whole heart. Even when he gave his whole heart there were still those that rejected them, actually there were many that rejected him. I thought of how that may have felt to give all your heart away and to have people reject you but it shows the ultimate love that he has for all of us and the unconditional love as well.

 

Well thank you for the emails and for the package. I really love hearing the stories and seeing the pictures. I am going to try to write to the ward this week hopefully, we will see it is going to be super busy. But I am going to try to make time at night and in the afternoon. I hope you have a wonderful party tomorrow, I wish I could be there but I will be thinking about you all. I have had to make sacrifices but the blessings that come in return are just as sweet if not sweeter. When we give our lives to God he will not fail us and his blessings are sweeter than we could possibly imagine. I love you both so very much and miss you. I cant wait to see the presents but thank you ahead of time. I'll let you know next week about my day. LOVE YOU & MISS YOU!!! Bunches!
Love Heather Baby Little One

June 20, 2011

Hi Mom & Dad,

How are you two doing?? I am doing good. This week has been long and it has been the lowest numbers of lessons I have got since getting on my mission I hope and pray that it will not be like this every week because I will freak out. I have a feeling that we will be making more visits and tracting than having lessons. So yesterday was awesome in Church this ward has literally become my family, I remember seeing Sister Lords and it made my day. She gave me a hug it was like seeing you mom it was awesome. There was a moment that I looked around in church and I realized that I knew almost everyone's name which was awesome but then I had the feeling that I will be leaving soon. That day will be hard for me because I don't want to leave this area but I know that I can always come back here and stay with any of them. I love it here, I cant wait for you both to come out to visit.

 

Thank you for the pictures mom. They were so cute, loved them. That is great that Sister Black posted advice from our Fathers. That was from one of the emails that you sent me and I asked both of you to bear your testimony to me.

 

I like being senior companion because I get to drive!!!

So last night we went over to President Blacks house to decorate his door for Father's Day. Happy Father's Day too Dad!!!!! Hope you had a wonderful day. :) But we were at President Blacks house and he told us a joke. We were talking about President Bush because Debbe said that he and his father worship an owl which they go to California once a year to do. We told him about it and then he said that President Bush was giving a speech and he said he saw a man that looked like Moses and he asked one of his guys to go and get him so President Bush could talk to him. This guy tried like three times but the Moses look alike wouldn't come, finally they asked him why. The guy that looked like Moses said, "The last time I talked to a bush I wondered in the wilderness for 40 years." :) :) President Black got jokes! He's hilarious.

 

Its crazy that June is almost over and my Birthday is only a week away. This time is going by so fast. Things this week are good. We had sister Black come out with us on Thursday. We went to see a Sister that is a talker we were there for about 2 hours but I love her she is awesome. We will go get her mail and things like that because she still has a hard time moving around. We met with an investigator this week, it is the 2nd week, so it was good. But Heavenly Father helps me through each day. Hebrews 11:40  3 Nephi 3:21. I hope and pray that another one we are teaching will get baptized before I leave this area, this is the only biggest desire that I have before getting transferred so we will see. Pray for him :)

 

Well I will write more next week, and I will look out for the package too. I am glad to hear from you all I love you so very much and miss you tons. Love you and Miss you bunches!!!!
Love Heather Baby Little One

Heather's 2nd Transfer

Helloooo

How are you doing??? I am doing good! So we got transfer calls this past Saturday but before i get to that I want to tell you about my week. It has been super busy, its been so busy that I haven't even written in my journal about the past couple of days. Ever since Friday I haven't been going to bed on time so hopefully after this transfer ends Tuesday night or tonight I don't know how they do that, but whatever, I will be able to get back to the normal schedule. Can you believe I have been out for 3 months now pretty crazy, and by the end of this transfer I will have been out for 4 1/2 months! But back to my week. We have been so busy making visits to less actives and some of the investigators we have. For the past four days we have barely been home, we would go home and then leave again its crazy but its good I like it like that. 

 

But last week on Thursday Elder Cummings called us and stopped by and said that the Zone Leaders were going to come by and prank us. I guess they found some big ole polar bear sitting on the side of the road and they picked it up. And they decided they wanted to prank us, so they asked Elder Cummings for our car keys because he deals with the cars and all that good stuff. So Elder Cummings came by with silly string so we could get them, he told us that they would come by on Friday night sometime to get us. So Friday night rolled around we were running around all over town literally and we finally got home about 9:40pm yep after curfew. We were at a sisters house who talks a lot and its super hard to leave, but we finally got home and we saw the Zone leaders down at a members house who go to another ward (different story) but we got into the house and I went to the bathroom and all of a sudden we hear our car alarm go off. The Elders pushed the panic button as they drove by, they forgot the video camera so they had to drive back home. Well we waited forever for them. I was outside in the little patio that they Andrews have in their front door with Sister Sprouse, bare foot (only I was barefoot). But there were TONS of bugs it was so GROSS! I had to keep jumping up and down so they would stay away from me it was nasty. The Andrews weren't home yet and when it was about 10:15 or something the Andrew's family came home and sister Sprouse and I were hiding out in the patio and Cristy their youngest who is in high school came up first. We started whispering to her and she freaked she was like mom there's someone right there, it was hilarious. We finally got them to come up and we told them the Elders were trying to prank us so we were going to get them. So, the Elders came back and were putting the bear in our car when we ran out and sprayed them with silly string. Elder Spencer bolted the other way and said Oh Crap!! Elder Towns was holding the video camera and just hung out by the car until we got closer. But it was hilarious! We told them what happened and that Elder Cummings told us about them coming over to prank us, so we are going to get Elder Cummings somehow. He always helps missionaries with pranks and stuff he plays both sides so we think its only fair to get him. So we told Elder Cummings we didn't get the Elders and that we waited forever and they never showed. So they got pictures with it all looking like they really got us so Elder Cummings thinks we got pranked and the zone Leaders never knew about it. So we will see what happens. But that night we got to bed super late we still needed to plan and everyone kept calling our phone even President Black called us that night. I was freaking out I thought someone told him what was going on and that we were in trouble. But sister sprouse said that he usually calls if someone is training or something like that so Saturday morning we called him back and left a message. 

 

We were going to Elder Cummings house to help his family with the backyard, well sister sprouse and I got to make homemade bread instead pretty awesome. But President Black called us right before we were going into their house Cummings so we talked to him. He asked me if I would be okay with being Senior companion and I said yes and he said that means Sister Sprouse is leaving. We waited all day to finally get the call to know where sister Sprouse is going and who my knew companion was. Sister sprouse is going to Meadows 4 &5th wards and I am going to get sister Knighton who was up in Fallon. I believe she had dinner with Scott and Kelly before so it will be cool to talk to her about that. I am really nervous and scared about it because I will have to do so much now. But i know that Heavenly Father will help me, he wont let me screw it up that bad so its a relief to know that. And I am so thankful I am not training because that would be even worse. Sister Knighton has been out one transfer longer than I have so its weird that I will be senior companion, I am glad she has experience though and I will get to learn from her. But this also means I will get to drive the car now :$

I am going to try to send a letter home today, well more like package but we will see. I have more pictures for you two to put on my computer and some pictures you can put on the blog. But be careful of which ones you put on the blog sister sprouse is very self conscience about some pictures, she freaked out that I was copying them all over to the USB but I will look at them and sort them out once I get home. Thank you so much for doing this for me and everything else. Oh so the Zone Leaders gave us a pocket knife, which Bro. Mendenhall gets somehow and gives them to certain missionaries. Pres. Black has one and Pres. Anderson, the zone leaders have one and Elders Sorenson and Lento got one for getting the most points for hell week. So they surprised us with one of our own. Its a Rough Rider pocket knife and I was wondering if you could see how much they cost and that stuff, just curious. But that little booger is sharp though, only has two blades and its like a cream handle its super small though its awesome! The other night we went to Elder Rolfsons place and he asked us so what do you to think about Elder Spencer. That little kid was trying to get us to say things about him like we like him and things like that, he likes gossip and I knew just what he was asking for so Sister Sprouse and I said hes a cool person and left it at that. We dont like any of the elders out here, this isnt the place for that and he likes to do things like that, I couldnt believe it stupid Elders.

I am going to miss Sister Sprouse though it will be weird but it will be good. Sister Walker is going up to Fallon now so it was like a little triangle swap but we didnt even see this coming. I really dont like transfers they get you all nervous and anxious because you dont know whats going to happen, it sucks. But I have learned alot from Sister Sprouse she has grown so much and I am so thankful for all that she has done, she has taught me so much. I was so proud of her yesterday, I saw her change so much, she likes to voice her opinion alot and she is trying to work on it but I told her I like to understand how people feel and not what they think. Sister sprouse wants to know what people think and not really feel and she is getting better and learning how to understand how people feel. We finally had a super long conversation the other night it was cool.

 

So the baptism on Saturday was good after all the stressful moments were over. We couldnt find a pianist for the life of us, it was only until the last moment that we finally found someone. No one could do it it was insane. President Black was there and there were tons of other missionaries. James the guy being baptized went through like 5 or 6 missionaries I think so most of them were there. I gave the talk on the Holy Ghost becasue we didnt know who else could do it. But every one said it was really good I just had the spirit so I was guided to know what to say. I was looking at james for most of the time I was talking and he would look up occasionaly and I could see his eyes were all teary so it went really well. I told him that he should remember this day and the moment he recieves the holy ghost because it will be a source of strength for him when he goes through something rough. I know it was what Heavenly Father wanted me to say to him. So it was such a wonderful moment, and Sister Sprouse said I did amazing as well along with many other people.

So I was trying to listen to my farewell talk last week and it wouldnt work, I guess when I put it on my IPod it didnt do it correctly so I cant listen to it, oh well. Oh yes I got the package THANK YOU!!! I got it on Thursday so it only took like two days :) I remember that day I was so tired and I wasnt feeling well so I laid down on the bed and told sister sprouse she could open it so she did. I think she enjoyed it. Thank you so much for the pictures they are SOOOO cute. Love them! Thank you for the talks and everything else. I honestly cant remember all that you sent me but thank you for the cord I have been using it all the time now so its awesome. I will most definately use the camelback. I found a store that I love I probably said this in the last letter but we went to REI last week so that is my new favorite store. It has TONS of rock climbing things so I will probably go back there and get somethings after the mission.

 

Thank you for the scriptures I will look them up and read them again. I know I know hebrews 11 but I cant think of what it says but it will look it up again. I get my new companion tonight so it will be interesting to see how things will be. I hope this transfer goes well and that we get along. Its having to start all over again of getting to know someone and working with them to help others. It sucks but I know that I am learning so much from this experience.

 

So here are a couple of scriptures we left with various people this past week Moroni 7:13, Alma 36:3, Heleman 5:12, Alma 37:6-7. I left a thought with Sister Rumel there is a picture at the end of the photos in sister sprouse with her and sister rumel, she is sitting down and has a dress on. Hopefully you can see who I am talking about. But when we were at Waymonds on Tuesday night I thought back to the hike we had the day before. It related so well to what we were talking about. But I was caught up in this thought. Sometimes we see other people and wish we were at their level to be like them, but we think that it is not possible because we think we will never be able to obtain that level because it is so high that it seems out of reach for us. I remember thinking back on the hike after we got back to where we started I looked up and saw it. I thought to myself that is so tall and really high did I really climb up there and stand on that level to be up so high. I couldnt see it but I thought that it was little by little. It didnt happen all at once I had to focus on the trials that stood right before me that was difficult. I had to make sure my footing was right and that I could get up a little more, it was by focusing on and pressing through taking that next step to go a little more. It was little by little having faith that Christ would be right there to help me to give me strength to press on a little more to climb that rock just a little bit more. It didnt come all at once but it was by those small steps of faith that helped me to get to the top of that rock to reach that high level. That is just how it is in our own life. It is by little steps it is by taking those small steps to press a little more through our trial that we get a little closer to that level we desire. We all can reach that level that we so desire to get to but we should look up and think that we will never get to it we must focus on those things that will help us get to that level, and that focus is Christ. When we turn to heavenly Father and strive to become more like Christ he will help us reach that level. 

 

Did you know that they put out a new Joseph Smith video for investigators, its similar to the one they had in the visitor center. Its called Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration. you can watch it on lds.org under media library. Its pretty good from what I have watched. I cant believe that it is already that time for another missionary from our ward to leave that is awesome. So this makes 5 missionaries out now is that right? 

Well I am going to go. I love you and miss you both so much. I will talk to you next week. Love you!

Love Heather Baby Little One

June 6, 2011

Hello Family,

How are you doing? I am hungry right now but it is okay because in an hour and a half I will get dinner. Sister Garrett is bringing dinner over to us so it will be good, I cant wait. So I woke up this morning and I felt much better than I have been for the past couple of days. I was going to talk to Sister Black about going to the doctor but since I felt so much better today I am not going to go now.

 

We had our Sister hike this morning it was GREAT! I had so much fun. I was talking to Sister Black and I told her I will be going back to BYU-I when I get home and she said that once they get home they will have to have some parties down in Utah, so now I know a few people in Utah I can stay with :) We did the Ice Box trail again its the same one we did last time but this time there wasn't any water in the river beds so it was pretty cool to climb the different rocks. I went bouldering again it was AWESOME! When you get to the end of the Canyon there is a huge waterfall well this time it was all dried up so the water was low enough in the puddle area to go climb up part of the fall. Elder Wright led the way and I was the only one to go with him but it was so much fun I loved it. And it helped with my sickness to, I got my heart rate up so hopefully I will sleep sound tonight.

 

I am learning a lot from Sister Sprouse her family is huge into raw food, they said that they have been able to cure and prevent cancer. So I want to talk to her mom and learn more I think it would be cool to learn about since I want to go work with cancer patients. Oh one of the sisters in the Canyon Gate ward told us about this Kyani stuff. Its pretty expensive but she let us try some and I really wish I could afford it but I will have to get a job when I get back home to try it. But I took a taste of it and I noticed that I didn't have much back pain after it, pretty good. So she has been taking this Kyani stuff and she has more strength and energy, pretty awesome! Well I have been thinking I want to try to get BYU-I with a Child Life Specialist program. I don't know if I told you two that or not. But I think it would be really great to do that or at least help people understand what courses would most benefit them in their future career. Oh yeah about the raw foods I am learning more, so it's good I am trying new things and hopefully getting more vitamins and minerals that my body needs. That and working out will probably help me the most on my mission, since I work hard and get sick a lot.

 

I have learned that we are basically called to teach people and bring them unto Christ we are not really suppose to find people. The finding and preparing lies more in the hands of the members of the ward, pretty interesting and a lot of work but it is easy once people understand it.

 

SO today we went to REI (Recreational Equipment Inc) something like that. But I was in need of another water bottle because its hard to have only two water bottles and trying to have cold water all day. So we went there and I got 2 more insulated water bottles, one is a Polar its like the one I already have and the other one is a Camelback. So I am super happy about it, I washed them out and am using them right now :)

Lets see what else is new. Um we have a baptism this Saturday I think I said that already :) We got only 7 lessons this past week because we canceled a few because I was sick. But hopefully this week it will be better. We got really close to the strip again and Sister Sprouse got to go to the "hood" what she likes to call it. It is the letter streets and its the more rougher part of town.

 

That is so funny about Ayden. It sounds like he can pull off his diaper finally, oh they are probably loving that stage :) hahaha I am excited for Michelle. Its June already only like 2 more months for her. Oh my birthday is coming up too, pretty awesome! Almost 20 days left insane. I will be 22 I seriously feel like I am older than that though. Its scary but its good, at least I know I am growing up.

 

The BBQ was awesome. The members house we went to was big, I think Sister Sprouse took pictures but they had their own tennis court in the backyard and a huge swimming pool next to it with a gathering area gazebo right next to it. Pretty crazy. But they were so sweet. They made enough to feed an army they probably thought they were since there were 8 Elders and 2 Sisters. They had tons of salmon, steak, baked potatoes, salad, chocolate cake. It was GOOD! Oh and at the end we sang for them as well. After every zone conference we sing to the cooks, the "Armies of Heleman" song. It was awesome they were all teary eyed, loved it.

 

We are not getting any new Sisters this transfer so we don't know what's going to happen about that. Its got me thrown for a loop, at least I know I won't train this transfer :) But we don't know what the Lord has planned if we are all staying in our areas or if we are going to get moved around. We will find out on Saturday (June 11) we have district lunch at In-N-Out then too :)

 

So we got an email today, well I got it today since I just checked my emails. But anyways, President said that the Brethren have so much confidence and trust in us that they are giving each companionship a portable DVD player. They said that we are to use it for personal and companion study and it is not to leave the apartment. But that is so exciting, I wish we had one last week because we were in the apt. all day basically because I was sick. But they will be giving them between June and August.

 

Oh funny story about today. We were coming back down from the waterfall area and you have to slide down some parts well there was a sister that was afraid of heights. So we (Elder Wright and I) were helping the other Sisters down and up some areas. but this sister on this one part was pretty afraid about it and she was going slow. I was right below her and I told her that if she falls (slides down) she doesn't have to worry too much because she won't go very far. Well of course she falls down (she was on her bottom anyways) but she slides down and I tried to stop her but she got to me and grabbed onto my leg so she didn't get too far down it was hilarious. She screamed but thank goodness I had really good footing because she grabbed onto my legs she was wrapped around my right leg and just hanging on for dear life she honestly thought she was going to die. :) Angels protect us every day. Even when we go hiking :)

 

So we go over and visit with a sister and her mom every week and share a message. Pretty awesome but we are learning so much from her as well. She is doing this Addiction Recovery thing, some people from the ward go to the meetings on Tuesday and Thursday. Well she has been saying that we all have an addiction it doesn't have to be to drugs or anything it could be like over eating or being on the computer for hours or even watching TV. Its pretty interesting I was thinking about getting a book and going through it, because I know we all can learn something from it. We are here to become more like Christ and she said that she is learning more and to do just that through this program. She also told us about a couple of books you two should look for one is called Putting on the Armor of God its a green cover with gold lettering. But you two should look into this.

 

Well I don't know what else to say. Doing good, feeling better. Oh thank you for the letter, I got it last week. And the pictures are so adorable. I have them in my bag so when I go to members home I pull them out and show them. I tell them I have a stud for a nephew :) its great. They all say that he is so adorable as well. I read this one last night to the Andrews they are like family I love living with them and going over for dinner. Its Philippians 4:13.

 

Crazy story before I end. We went to the YSA ward yesterday and the Elders said that Bishop found a note on the door from someone. It said "Please send Morman's to 1909 Santa Paula Apt 9 or 2 LV 89104" and then it had two scriptures on it Hoesa 1:9 and Psalm 19:10. Pretty hilarious, but they looked up the scriptures and it sounds like they want to bible bash which is ridiculous. Crazy people :/

 

Well I will let you know what happens with transfer next week. I may email monday or tuesday I dont know. But hopefully monday. Well I love you and miss you bunches, of oats. Thank you for the emails I love getting them. Oh yeah, before I forget I got a package from Brother Warner. The young women wrote me letters and sent them to me pretty awesome. I loved them. So it was a nice surprise. So tell them I said thank you and I appreciate it! Well I will close now, enjoy the pictures and I love you both very much!!

Love Heather Baby Little One

May 31, 2011

Well I am sick once again. I hope this doesnt become a routine of getting sick every transfer. I dont even know how I got sick, I cant even remember being around someone that was sick. But we went into the mission office today and I told sister Wright what was wrong with me and she said to go into the bathroom and get some advil (to release the pressure and swelling) and to take some Sudafed for my sinuses. I have been feeling like this since Sunday, which sucked because we had to give a lesson in the family ward the second hour and get up in Relief Society and help sister Goodnough with her lesson. So for Relief Society I thought I was going to talk about the sacrament but I found out as I got in there I was going to talk about the Sabbath day. Kind of scary but Heavenly Father blessed me to know what to say and have an idea of a story so it went really well. Some of the members were amazed they said I am amazing. The spirit was there so thats what matters most.

 

Yesterday our P-day was pretty lazy but it was good because it allowed me to just get some sleep. I am having problems sleeping at night because of this sickness but we are going to sister Taylors to get some nyquil so I should sleep like a baby tonight :) Next monday we are suppose to have a sister activity with Sister Black and the rest of the Sisters in Vegas, we are going to hike Red Rock again, really excited about it.

The gospel isn't just for sinners but for all of us to become perfected even as Christ is. Dad that is great to hear about your new calling soon you will be bishop, but not any time soon don't worry you have to get a nice house with a finished basement :)

 

The one thing that I learned this week is from John 21:15-17 It's about Christ asking Peter "Lovest Thou Me?" I talked about this in Relief Society too. But we should ask ourselves this question why are we doing what we are doing is it out of love for the Savior or just because everyone else is doing it. Are we going to church because mom and dad want me to go, or am I keep the sabbath day holy just because? It should be because we love Christ enough to follow his example and keep the commandments of God. This is why Christ was the perfect peron to ever walk the earth because his bowels were filled with so much love for God and for us. We should love him just as much as he loved us to give his life for us. So when we do something we should ask ourselves am I doing it out of love for the savior. We should be keeping the sabbath day holy because we love God and Christ so much and for us to how our love to them we should be obedient and follow Christ and Gods commandments.

 

So last week they called it Hell week, where we were in a competition with the other district for the most points. Our district won so we are having a BBQ this Friday. Pretty awesome. But we did good this past week, the work was awesome. We got 6 new investigators, handed out 3 Book of Mormons, set an investigator with a date, and had 8 lessons with investigators. So our next baptism is on June 11th he is in the Air Force and is a bodybuilder. But he is so ready, I extended the baptism commitment and before even finishing the whole thing he said Yes absolutely and then he said its about time. hahaha He is so excited to get baptized, its awesome. So I will get two baptisms within my second transfer.

 

That is great to hear about Nick its about time he got his papers in, I hope he has a testimony and he is wanting to work, its tough but it will be so rewarding if he is obedient to the rules. That is so funny that he's going to Idaho maybe I will see him when I get back to school, hahaha.(Heather's cousin Nick Bystrom is going on his mission to Pocatello ID)

 

Transfers are almost here, almost a week away pretty crazy. I was thinking for a moment that I was already in my 3rd transfer but its still my 2nd sometimes time feels like its going so fast and then there are times when it feels so slow. Crazy but Sister Sprouse doesn't want to go she said she will cry if she gets transferred out, but she has been here for about 6 months so she might just get transferred. If she gets transferred I may be staying in this area for 6 months as well, crazy that's 1/3 of my mission in this area. So I was looking at this guys shirt in the library and it said on the back of it Half way to St Pat's day September 17. I realized that that's my release date for my mission, so Dad when it's your birthday next year I will only have 6 more months left, but I may just leave a transfer early so i can be home for my niece's first birthday.

"You lay down your life every time you put the needs of someone else's above your own"

Faith has two aspects to it belief (hope) and the act (charity). Have you ever wondered why the scirptures always say faith hope and charity, well because they are all intertwined."  "Hope" Ensign GC May 2011 Priesthood Session.

 

Don't know what else to say but thank you for the stories about Ayden, I miss him and he is so funny True Clevenger right there. No I haven't received your letter yet hopefully today. Thank you and love you so very much. Love you and miss you bunches.

Love Heather baby Little One

May 23, 2011

I am doing good. It has been a really busy week and I am tired, so glad it is P-day today!

So I think I have just switched over to full missionary mode. I just got done emailing Kristilyn and I signed it Love Sister Clevenger :$ Oh boy, you know what that means I forgot my first name :$ hahaha and it means that I am getting more and more into my mission. We have been so busy and I have been so exhausted. This past week has been hard, just working and draining but its been good. We thought we would be able to get our goal of 20 lessons this week but we actually got about our lowest lessons yet. It is crazy to see because we gave it all we had, we had like 6 cancellations on us, it was bad. But I know that one day it will make for a great story. We gave it all we had this past week and we were drained and worn and we got the lowest lessons out of all the weeks I have been here. Crazy but I know that God will bless us with reaching our goal, its all about Faith.

Saturday we were so tired, we were suppose to have 3 lessons and two baptisms that day. We had to eat our dinner at the Church because we didnt have time to go to our appointment for dinner. But we are getting blessed for the hard work we have been putting out. But we had our 10 am apt cancel on us so we had to weekly plan, blah! Then we had a 2 oclock apt where we were handing a guy off to the Elders so we did that, taught the first lesson and had to leave early to get to the Church at 3 to get ready for the baptism. We had to practice for the musical number but the other sisters didnt show up until about 330. Sister Walker made it with Sister Dixon which was GREAT! The baptism was at 4 Sister Sprouse was so anxious I could feel it she kept running around like a crazy chicken. But I just sat down and started to play the piano I didnt want to freak out or anything because I knew it would ruin the rest of the night worrying about everything. Thank you for telling me about Ayden, it makes me laugh to hear about him. I almost forgot I have a handsome little nephew and a niece on the way. :) Thank you for putting together packages for me I get really excited when we come back home around 4 or so and try to see if there is any mail on our door that day. Its so funny! That is crazy about the storm, it rained this past wednesday probably told you that but pretty bizarre for Vegas. We got really close to the Strip the other day it was fun, if we were any closer we would be on the strip. But it was all legit, we were visiting less actives for the Singles ward. There were tons of visitors at Chruch yesterday for the Singles ward it was great! We have a new investigator we are trying to meet with, we are going to set him for June 4th as a baptism date.

So real quick about the baptism, I will write more about it next week. It went really well the Spirit was so strong. Her children came to it. They really enjoyed it and I am thinking they will eventually join as well. It was amazing no words could explain it. She has so much faith more than anyone I have ever met, its phenomenal. But our musical number went great, everyone said we sang like angels. There was not a dry eye in the room it was amazing. I was so going to record it too and I forgot, I was so disappointed but it was awesome. You will have to hear it from the members when you come to meet them.

Well I am going to let you go and I will write to you all next week. I love you bunches, Thank you so much for the little stories about Ayden I miss that little guy. I love you all and am praying for you. ThANk You!! Love you and Miss you so so much!! :)

Love Heather Baby Little One (Sister Clevenger)

May 18, 2011

How are you two doing? I bet you, mom, were kind of freaking out with not getting an email from me on Monday. :) Sorry we had our Temple day today so our P-day changes from Monday to the day of our Temple date. Something I didnt know until last week after we already had P-day. So for future reference, if I have a temple day my Pday will be on that day instead of Monday :) But it was great, And the celestial room was GORGEOUS!!! You will both love it, the stain glass with the sun coming in looks amazing, I didnt presonally see it but I can imagine it.

So we went to Deseret Book on Monday to get scriptures for a family, a ward member gave us money but we were there and I was thinking about a lady we were teaching. We bought her a few things for her baptism but then all of a sudden it hit me-Dad makes those Living Christ pitures for people so I was wondering if you, Dad, could make like :$ maybe 5 or something like that for me. There are a few families that I would like to give them to. Sister Sprouse said she would pay for one.

This past friday we had a Greenie day. Who's bright idea that was i dont know. They decided to put all of us new sisters (Sister Spencer, Walker, and I) together for the day because the Trainers (Sprouse, Laluia, Dixon) had a training meeting. So I got to drive the car!!! It was fun though I had no idea what I was doing because we had so much time with nothing planned. It was kind of scary at first but it was good once we went along. We made visits to the Less actives in the Singles ward so it was good. And I got to drive!! :) it made me so happy finally after like 11 weeks without driving. We did service last week at DI in the Humanitarian Aid center, this lady came up to me and we started talking and she told me about these Hugs that they make and donate to hospitals. She said they donate them to the cancer center hospital here, so we got to talking about that. She said that they will probably give me a tour if I go down and ask them, she gave me the address and everything. So when I get to come back to visit I want to go there as well, because I think its out of the mission boundaries.

Oh I forgot to tell you about the temple, it was beautiful. Sister Lords took us she is so sweet, I love her. She bought us a loaf of bread at Great Harvest. But when we were in the Temple one of the ladies told us that Marie Osmond works there on Wednesday! That is pretty amazing, we were hoping to run into her but we didnt but now that we know she works on Wednesdays in the morning probably there is a chance of running into her when we go :) Oh also the Elders told us yesterday that they were walking down the street and some guy pulled up next to them and asked them if they had one of those Book Of Mormon's he can have they said yes. They said he looked familiar and that they knew him some how and then they figured it out, it was Donnie Osmond!! Pretty great!

 It has been weird weather here lately it rained off and on today which is not normal, and it has been kind of chilly. I am not complaining my sweatshirt is getting used though so thank you. I was worried I wouldn't be able to wear it until winter time but I wore it today :) I know I will be staying next transfer but there are 8 more sisters that will come into the mission over the next couple of months so they will be opening up new areas. I am hoping for a California area for the sisters to be in, I really want to serve there :) But I am afraid I may train next transfer but we will see. Oh so we were super close to the strip the other night pretty awesome, dont worry we didnt break any rules. But we were coming back from one of the apartment complexes we visited and we drove past BLACK BEAR DINER!!!! So when you come to visit we can go there, its on Tropicana I believe just west of the strip. I freaked out!

The picture of us in the back yard was our service day at the Goodnoughs, :) we are going to do more service for them hopefully next week. The next time you see the lady at the temple, tell her I said Hi and thank you. That is way cool that you see her all the time and get to talk to her. She's like your temple friend that you made by just attending the temple. The people you meet and the friendships you make they are priceless. I keep telling Sis. Sprouse that she is going to get transferred next transfer but we will see. I just hope I dont train. So we saw this lady today at Sunflower (grocery store) and she was SO excited to see us she was almost crying and almost hyperventilating it was great. She served in Ohio and she LOVES sister missionaries, it was awesome she made my day. But she went to BYU-Idaho and got married last month but it was so funny, I wish you could have seen it.

So today we went to Sister Cooks home to work on our musical number for the baptism on Saturday. They got me to warm up and get higher on Soprano. I almost died though!! My abs were getting a nice work out and my heart rate was getting up there, I had to take off my over shirt becasue of it. But it was good they said I had a good voice, but we will see how Saturaday goes. I am really excited for her baptism. She is so so excited as well, she will be my first official baptism it is going to be so cool to see. This past Saturday was my first unofficial one, we were the first to teach Ben about the gospel so it was awesome to see him get baptized. We got pictures so dont worry. We have been super busy and its about darn time. I have been so tired and exhausted from it all. We have had a lot of cancellations but we are still working really hard which I love. I even go to bed on time and wake up on time and I am still tired. But its great I know that I am doing something right if I am tired all the time. We had like 16 lessons scheduled but we will see how the rest of the week plays out. We were so packed that we couldnt fit anyone else in if we tired but we have had cancellations so we are trying to fit some people in we will see how it goes. One of these weeks we are going to get 20 lessons I know it. We had a great lesson with our investigator last night. We went over to her place after we left the Garrett's home for dinner (they had her over too) and we watched The Restoration The Joseph Smith video. She Loved it and when we were at the Distribution Center Monday I bought her a copy of the D&C 4 disc DVD, and we gave it to her. She loved it, it was so cool to see her light up when we told her that. We forgot it because we were running out of time but we went back home and got it for her and we watched the Strength Beyond My Own video of the temples and she pretty much LOVED it too. the Spirit was so strong and tender it was way awesome to see. It is such a great experience out here, I couldnt ask for anything better. We got to get to our dinner apt so I will close and I will write to you on monday (Pday). I love you and miss you bunches.

Love Heather Baby Little One

Heather's 1st Transfer!

Hello Family and Friends,
How are you all doing? I am doing good. It was sooo good to talk to you both, mom and dad. I felt like I have been talking to you guys every other day but its been like 7 weeks since I really talked to you both. A mission keeps you busy and there is so much going on and things to do, its great. Yes mom your email was a lot better thank you. I haven't received any other emails besides you two so I have a lot more time to read and respond back to you both. We went shopping today I got new shoes finally!!! I also got two shirts.

We got a total of 73 lessons last transfer! That is pretty darn good if you ask me, I guess our district leader only got 20 which means they only had an average of 3 lessons a week, that's horrible. Thank you for the address dad, I will try to write to the ward this week, hopefully. Thank you for buying me the flag, we finally found this store one of the Elders have been telling us about today. So sister Sprouse got a flag, but I am looking forward to the one you got me! So Saturday we had a lesson with a lady we have been teaching and it went well we are finishing up the lessons with her. She is super excited about getting baptized next Saturday May 21, so that will be my official first baptism. But we are having a baptism this weekend with a guy we had to pass him off to the Elders in Red Rock Zone. So his baptism will be at 6 this Saturday, and we get to have BBQ meaning Tri-tip! This past Saturday we had a Car Show the Monte Cristo Ward put on. We asked if we could do a booth for missionary stuff and they said yes. So it was fun we got one guy who is really interested in learning more about the Church hopefully he will feel the truth and join. I guess he has come to the Monte Cristo Ward (the ward that meets before our ward in the same building) but the Elders haven't talked to him or given him the lessons at all. When we talked to him he was really really interested in learning more and this guy came to their ward a couple of times and they still arent teaching him. I just dont understand why they haven't been teaching him. 

 

On Friday we had a lesson with the lady that will be baptized on May 21, it was really good. We talked about Following the Prophet, tithing, fasting, and the Word of Wisdom. It was great and it is amazing that she hasn't had a drink of coffee in two weeks. I am so amazed by her willingness and strength to do what the Lord asks of her. I know that she is going to be a great individual and she is going to touch the lives of many people in the Church. Her strength now is so amazing and her faith is astounding, I cant wait for her to receive the Holy Ghost she is going to be so unbelievably amazing, I cant even tell you but she is going to do so much in building the kingdom of God. So that afternoon (Friday) we had lunch with a lady who is from India she is Muslim I think but she was telling us about her beliefs and all that stuff, and I learned so much from her. They have the holy scriptures they call it the writ or something I am not for sure on the name but I found out that it is the bible just in their language. They have the book of Genesis, they have the story of Noah and Moses, and she was telling us the names for them in her language it was amazing. It was so cool to see the different beliefs, I really want to take a World Religion Class now when I get back to school. We have met so many catholics and some baptists, but I still don't know all that they believe in. Oh one day (don't know if I told you this b=efore) but one day we were at the Hospital and there were these ladies that were walking up behind us and they said hey sisters. So we turned around and said hi and they were all excited when we turned around and they got closer and they looked at our name tag and said oh you are Mormon sisters. After they saw that they hurried up and left, they said that they were Jehovah's Witnesses. It was so funny to see because it was like they wanted nothing to do with us after that. But I got a good laugh out of it, some people. I have come to see that they only believe in Christ's death, not many religions focus on his Resurrection like we do. It's so sad that they focus on the bad and sad things, they should focus more on the happier things in life. 

 

I hope the family is doing good. I will still need the addresses, so don't forget to send those to me please. :) I have a nice stack of BOMs on the table that I will take a picture of for you both. Oh so we have been teaching a man who is less active. He's actually on Dialysis, he has bad kidneys and a really bad cough. But they have to go and clean out his blood every week or something. But we have been going over to their house almost every week, he reminds me of Grandpa and Jeff a lot, but he finally came to church this past Sunday.

Oh so we have had a lunch appointment every day this week which is such a blessing. But we had lunch with someone who is a friend of one of the members in the Ward, and her niece. It was so fun, we went to Applebees on Rainbow and Spring Mountain next to Walmart. We found out that there is an Applebees closer to us on Charleston right where we live it was hilarious. So now we know next time that there is an Applebees close to us. But her niece lives in New York, the Queens area. She reminded me so much of Aunt Jeanie it was great. Have you talked to Uncle Eric lately? They were telling us about what they have been doing while she was in town, and I got more places to visit when I come back. Oh one more thing about the a family in the ward, we did service for them on Thursday for about 2 and 1/2 hours it was great we got all the Elders in our district to come and help.

 

It is amazing all the things I learn from so many people. I read this scripture and shared it at one of our dinner appointments this past week 2 Nephi 4:24, it is referenced in I Need Thee Every Hour. I will try to call Holli again this week and see if I can meet her. I am so happy to hear that Dad and Jeff got some gloves, its about darn time! I am excited to come back and play catch with them. I hope you got a glove for me too :) I am really happy that things are going good, and to hear that you all are being blessed its great to hear that. So tonight we have a lesson with one of the daughter's of a family in the ward. They wanted us to come teach her the lessons again she just got out of jail, so they believe this will help her. Sister Sprouse is freaking out about it, but I know that it will be okay because God will bless us if we just have faith in him. And its not like we are going to die from it either. 

 

It has been challenging with Sister Sprouse, and I do miss Sister Walker but I know that I am learning and growing so much more from it. So its been interesting but good, and I am coming to understand what I can learn from her. I have come to see that a marriage needs tons of communication and that they need to talk about things and pray about things. But its been good, she likes to try to say she can beat me up so I tell her that I will hurt her. Its fun, but hard but I know I will grow so much more from it all. And time has gone by so fast I can just see how fast it will be by the time I am leaving. We decorated a couple of doors these past two days (Sister Black, the mission president's wife and the Deckers) we just put paper that said we love you on it. 

 

Oh before I forget we had 5 sisters in our apartment. We thought Sister walker was going to leave that Monday night but we found out that Sister Walker was staying until Tuesday morning so we had Sister Woznow ("woz know"), Sister Dixon (she talks so much drove me insane so happy to have peace and quiet after they left), Sister Walker, and then Sister Sprouse and I. It was packed and noisy and we had a dinner appointment that night with the Oswalds so they had five sisters at their home, it was awesome. Over half the sisters in the mission are in Las Vegas. Oh and they are upping the numbers to 18 sisters probably already told you that but oh well. 

Well that is all for now I will talk to you next week. I love you and miss you bunches! It was so good to see you all and talk to you. LOVE YOU!!!

 

Love Heather Baby Little One

Heather's 6th week in Vegas!

I am doing good. We got transfer calls this past Saturday, it drove me INSANE!!! I couldnt even focus on anything because I kept thinking about transfer calls. We got a call in the morning and Sister Walker was like "Transfer Calls!" I didnt even think about it before that but once she said that thats all I could think about the whole day! But we didnt get our call until 8 oclock that night. But I am..................................Staying! I am gald I am staying because that means I get to go to the Temple and I will be here for a baptism of someone we have been teaching. So its good, Sister Walker is being transfered to Meadows Stake, the sisters are replacing the Elders up there. Sister Sprouse is staying as well. I am thinking I will probably take over Canyon Gate, I will probably be here for the next couple of transfers. I am glad to stay down here a little bit longer, and I know that there are more things I need to learn from down here. It will be good. Still didnt make our 20 lessons Sister Walker got sick so we had to cancel a couple of appointments. But we have 14 lessons already scheduled so we need to find some more and maybe some back ups just in case we have some cancel on us. We have another investigator who is getting baptized on May 21, and I am really excited about that!

That is so cute to hear about Ayden, he is so big. Miss that little guy. Thank you for sharing those stories, they really help me get through the rest of the week, its like a boost. I love Mondays because I get to hear from everyone. I have been hearing about a lot of the storms that have been happening in the Midwest. I heard there has been about 130 tornadoes that hit the United States. Have you had any near you all? Oh that picture of Jeremy and Crystals baby is SO Cute! Thank you, she is so adorabe! She was premature right, but I am glad they are doing well.

 

Thank you for giving Bishop the letter, I haven't written another letter to the ward yet. I am still trying to finish one that I started a couple of days ago. But hopefully soon. Dad that is a good idea to write short emails and long letters to me. That will work out better because I can read them whenever I have time and then I will make notes on them to tell you in the next email. We are probably going shopping tomorrow because sister Walker has to pack today so she can leave for her new area. Its going to be so weird without her. I love being in a trio its so much fun, and you have more people to laugh with. 

 

So is the reason why you are going up North because of the funeral for Aunt Dorinne? I hope you all have a good trip up there. I wish I could go with but I will be thinking about everyone and praying for the family. I think I was having some bad feelings on that day she passed away, pretty crazy. But I kind of knew something happened, but she is with family now.

 

So I have been able to see how palm trees grow its pretty interesting. I never knew how they actually grew before, its funny how it has taken me about 20 years to figure it out. But it goes to show I have some time in the car to look at all of them here and see. Oh they have a short water supply here and I figured out a way for you both to have a nice looking yard without having to cut grass or water plants so you wont have to worry about mom killing them. There are a couple of houses that have fake grass, like turf and they also have fake flowers. Problem solved basically. I have heard that its been one of the coldest springs they have had in years so, we are still in the 70s which is way nice. Hopefully the 100s won't come until July. I was thinking about that, it would be pretty neat to stay here for 4th of July. I was going to talk to President Black about requesting to go up North and serve in Fallon my last few transfers here.

We had a district lunch on Saturday and we all went out to In-N-Out. I had a double for you both again. there was a lady there that paid for our food again it was so nice of her. The day before we went to the Elders house because the members have a tennis court right next to them. So we went out and played catch. I played catch with a recent convert who played softball for about 8 years so it was amazing to play with her. I threw pretty hard it was so nice, and I was sore the next day. 

 

Well there are more things to write about but I cant remember them at all. I am going to go get new shoes tomorrow and a piano book as well. But that is all that I can think of right now. I will have to make notes of stories that I want to tell you both that happen during the week. Oh before I forget we are going to Sister Lords on Sunday, and we are going to do skype over there. Make sure to be home by 8:30pm on Sunday because I will call you then. We will probably have sister Lords call you as well to tell you, but that is the time. well I love you and miss you bunches. I will talk to you all on Sunday. (Make sure Jeff and Michelle are there too, I really want to see Ayden). I LOVE YOU!!! And talk to you then!

 

Love Heather Baby Little One

Heather's 5th week in Vegas!!!

Happy Late Easter!! I am glad you both had a wonderful Easter. Those pictures were so great to receive. They made me light up so much. Well so much has happened. We are really busy and I barely get time to write it all down in my journal. I have set a new bed time for myself 10 oclock which is a lot better because I need it. There are days that I dont know how I get through them but I do, I know its is all because of the Lord. He blesses us when we are obedient to his commandments. Easter for us was great. I did get the package, thank you so much!! I also got the package from Kim tell her I said thank you! I will try to send a card to them soon. But my companions loved it as well. That lotion she sent smells so good! So its great I really need lotion out here. We went to the Whites house for Easter dinner, and they had an Easter egg hunt for us in their backyard so we did that as well. It was awesome I think the last time we did an Easter egg hunt for Jeff and I was when I was about 12, I think. But we took pictures so I will try to send them next week through email.

 

I got a hair cut today, its short now so its good. It feels so much lighter now, its about to my shoulders now. But I got it done for free, the lady was a member who owned the place we went to, it was amazing how the Lord played a hand in it. I called this other lady this morning and I set up an appt. with her for next Monday which I really didnt want to wait that long, but I just set it up just because. Then we went to this place Sister Cockrell went to and I prayed right before I left and I said you know what I will pray about it because I know the Lord will answer my prayers. So I went into this place and I asked the ladies that were there how much it was for a hair cut and they were telling me and then this other lady walked in and they told me to ask her. So I started talking to her and she saw our tags and said oh well I do hair cuts for free for missionaries so I asked her if she had an opening today, which she did so I got my hair done at 2. It was so amazing to see how things worked out because when she was doing my hair she said that it was amazing how she walked in at the right time and also she had someone cancel on her so she was able to fit me in. Cool, huh?!?! So I shouldnt get to hot now in the summer here. Transfers are this Saturday, I really dont want to leave but I kind of feel like I might. But there are a couple of members here that are making it hard on me. There is this one kid in the singles ward that likes me and he will randomly text our phone and say stuff to me. I told President Black about him and having to go to his house this friday, we are trying to reactivate his sister so its extremely uncomfortable for me to go over there. We may arrange for splits when that time comes, but I cant believe how hard it is when members do things like this. I feel really bad for the Elders because they go through a lot of it, but the Elders feel like brothers to me so I feel safe when they are around. I am gaining a deeper appreciation for them.

 

Thank you for sending those piano books out I am getting better at playing Redeemer so its been really helpful for me. I am so thankful to be able to play the piano out here, it is a sense of relief for me now, so piano has taken over my stress releaser instead of riding dirt bikes seeing the fact that I cant ride on my mission. But its been a blessing God works in glorious ways. I am really glad you got to go to the temple. I am excited to go this next month wherever I will be. It will be amazing and I am just so happy that I will be able to go. I dont remember the last time it was that I had to wait this long to go to the temple, but it will be so wonderful.

Last week we didnt get our 20 lesson goal but I am praying and hoping this week we will. we had so many people cancel on us it was insane, we never had that many people cancel. But I have been learning that the more we have faith in Christ the more Heavenly Father will bless us. I know that all these things are happening because he wants us to have more faith in him that he will provide a way for us to reach our goal, for us to trust him more and rely more on him. It is a beautiful thing to learn. We had interviews with President Black this past Thursday it was great, I love seeing them both. Sister Black gave us this hand out that talked about missions I will have to type it out next week for you both. Thank you for keeping up with the blog I really appreciate it and I know every one else appreciates it as well.

 

So I think I got the best Easter gift ever. I got to see Stacie at Church yesterday. It was SO great, it made my day. Even though I had a rough night being able to see her made my Easter amazing. I will always remember this Easter for it, and it was like seeing family so I had you all in my heart yesterday, and it was added upon when I saw Stacie. I felt the Saviors love so deeply and profoundly yesterday. And I learned so much about the Atonement. I love the scripture "He is not here: for He is Risen!" I think Matthew, the very last chapter like verse 14 or something. But I was able to talk to Stacie for a little bit after sacrament it was great, I couldnt contain my happiness. But I am so happy for her, shes graduated and will finally be able to go out and do her thing. Her sister said I told you I would bring her, I really didnt think I was going to be able to see her before I left, if I do leave. But I am glad I did, I seriously wanted to give her sister the biggest hug ever as well. So amazing, great great day!!

 

It is great to hear about Ayden I love that little guy. Thats so funny about him eating a smurf,(he was coloring eggs with small paint rollers and stuck the blue one in his mouth, so it looked like he ate a smurf) he is a crazy Clevenger. I wanted to color eggs but didnt get to, but I will have to see those videos. Thank you for all the things you sent in the package.

 

That is really interesting that you mentioned addictions in your email because I have been encountering those things quite a bit lately. Its hard to see others struggle but it makes the Atonement that more real for me and everyone else. I know that Heavenly Father is watching over us. He loves us even when we are doing things wrong, he may not bless us exceedingly but he still watches over us and protects us. I have been working on that song Redeemer and I really want to play it for them, so hopefully I will be able to play it for them. I played it Saturday night at the Lorenzi building, love that building the organ pipes are amazing! But it was great and Sister Sprouse said she cried, I felt the Spirit take over as I played. It was a tender blessing and sweet moment. 

 

I got a lot of emails this week so thank you so much. Tell everyone else I said thank you as well I really appreciate them. I have been trying to write them back so I have been successful. I havent been able to read all of moms email it is super long and it took more time to write to everyone else first. But I am putting the email on the geek stick and I am going to try to print it off, it cost to print it off here at the library so I dont want to do that. But I also saved those pictures of Ayden, such a cutie. But I heard from Tahnee which is great, she is doing good busy with school and her brother came home this past week, which is so cool. I am so happy for her. Time has flown by I can remember just last year I was at school starting a new semester and meeting Tahnee for the first time and now its a year later and I am living in VEGAS!! I seriously didnt see that one coming at all, and then I got to see my roommate Stacie. God is filled with love and he wants to give all he has to his children, he wants to give them what they want but sometimes we have to wait patiently for better things that will come ahead. 

 

I did get an email from the Bishop but I didnt get time to write him back so I will try to write another letter so he will have two to read to the ward. But this ward has 13 missionaries out in the field, that is so amazing!!! Dont worry about me getting hurt I am doing fine, there will be a good stroy to tell about that that can relate to the gospel. But we went hiking at Red Rock, I told stacie that we will have to do that when I come back to visit. Sister Black said something about having a sister day, and going hiking with all the sisters here. We went on the ice box trail it was amazing we hiked into this BIG canyon! Breath taking and so many places to rock climb.

We taught an investigator this past Friday about the plan of Salvation, she seemed really confused when we were going through it. But once we were able to talk to her about it all and help her understand, it was amazing she finally understood it and once she understood it she said "I believe it all I accept it!" It was amazing to see, she has been prepared so much for this gospel its astounding! I hope I am here for her baptism, she wants to move her date back to the end of May but we are praying for the 3rd week of May instead so we will see what the Lord wants for her. She is kind of nervous about it so we had the Elders come over to give her a blessing. Oh but the lesson on Friday it was so crazy, when we got there to her place I felt this nervousness inside of me I felt as if someone else was nervous those feelings I usually get when someone close by is feeling it. Well I asked sister walker if she was nervous at all and she said no i dont think so, so then I got her to question it-not what I meant to do. But I felt like someone was nervous but we went in and near the end of the lesson Debbie said that she was super nervous before we came over, I seriously felt that feeling from her when I wasnt even near her. Crazy, but if finally made sense, but she is doing better. I dont even know what else to say but we did go tracting alot, there was one day that we didnt even use any miles on our car, we are way below our limit we have 300 miles still left to use before Saturday. Can you say joy ride around Vegas!! :) hahahaha just kidding but we may have to use more miles because if they see we dont use them all they may pull some away from us and we dont want that.

 

I know the Lord will take care of you all and things will be okay. I have been praying for you all and I am glad that things are going well. I was so excited to tell everyone about you both doing missionary work, President Evans said that when there is a missionary in the field the family is more blessed in doing missionary work. It is a great blessing to witness. I was talking to the lady that did my hair today about the mission. And I realized that the more I am tempted with my testimony the more it is strengthened because with every struggle comes strength and blessings. So I know that with every thing that comes about even with my testimony being questioned it is going to get that much more stronger. It is such a blessing from Heavenly Father, and the Atonement is so powerful. I am learning so much more about the Atonement and the power of prayer, I have a neat story about prayer which I will have to save for later. But I thought I knew a lot about the Atonement and Prayer before but now its even more than before. Its great I am so thankful for my trials because they are great blessings afterwards. Thank you so much for that quote mom it was awesome. Well I need to go, I do love P-days and being able to hear from you and everyone else. I love you and Miss you bunches, of oats!!!

Love Heather Baby Little One

Heather's 4th week in Vegas!!!

Well you both will freak if I tell you this but I think its pretty hilarious and anyways what kind of fun would it be if you didn't get hurt. :) We went hiking today at Red Rock it was the best time I have ever had on a P-day so far. But the view was amazing and the quietness was the best thing we could ask for. We went as a zone so there were about 8 other elders there I think, we got member rides which was so nice don't remember their names. But one guy brought his super nice camera and took pictures for us I think he is going to make copies and send them out. Awesome! On our way back I was coming through this tunnel of tree branches and one of these stupid trees decided to grab my shorts and the hard headed Clevenger that I am decided to pull forward instead of step back and unloosen it with my hand. So I fell down on some nice looking rocks that scraped my shin and knee all up. Pretty great if you ask me, I think its one of my best battle wounds yet, besides the dog bite but that doesn't count it wasn't self inflicted. But don't worry I took pictures for you :) I am going to try to get pictures printed next week and send them to you. Vegas reminds me so much of California it is great, oh and going to the strip here is something you dont do if you are a local. I am learning so much it is great.

 

We got a new investigator yesterday. A girl from the Singles ward brought her friend (Benjamin) to church and in Preisthood he introduced himself and said that he will be joining the church. Pretty great. But I have seen many blessings come from tracting I am hoping my trainer can see to make it more of a priority to track. Though I dont like it I still will do it because we are told to do so and blessings come from it. I dont know much about the Heather Clevenger but I told them that it would be awesome to meet with her and the other clevengers to see if we are related. Oh yes that is great you got an email from Sister Schlauder they are an amazing family, her husband is actually the Stake President for our area. They are super nice and we had dinner with them last night(Sister Schlauder sent me an email with a picture of Heather and her 2 companions and Sister Schlauder's grandkids!! It was pretty awesome to receive that! And I will post the picture she sent on here!) Oh so we went to Canyon Gate the other day to visit this one family, you have to have permission to go in, they are super strict. But we got in through another member I dont think she knew we sort of used her but we shared a spiritual message with her. But anyways those houses were MASSIVE! They were like that one house in California on Grangville off on the left going to the base, BIG! I did get pictures of some random houses for you all to see, I will try to get pictures of some of the members homes. I have wrote down a couple of people I need to write back to so i am going to try to do that this week when I find time. But I got the letter I sent to Bishop Webb, they returned it to me so I was thinking about just sending it home so you can give it to Bishop for me.

 

We were in the store today and I almost bought an Easter Lily, but I didn't I have to save so I can afford a hair cut. It will be interesting how its all going to work out with money but it will be okay. I got the 2 packages on Friday THANK YOU! They get here so fast when you don't have to send them to the mission office, I love it. and I did get your letter as well a day or two before hand thank you. But I really enjoyed the piano books, I was able to play on Saturday and Sunday but not as long as I would have liked to. I really need to play for like 30 mins to an hour. My companions really liked the gifts, we took pictures for you, so hopefully Sister Sprouse will send them to you.

 

Things are going good here. We didnt meet our lesson goal last week but its okay the Lord tests us to see if he can really trust us and help us have more faith in him. But we were blessed with wonderful opportunities and moments last week. It has been a true blessing, though there were hard times. Satan does tempt you a lot while being on a mission, there are so many mind games I have played its hard. But they have been a source of help to strengthen me. There was a moment that a thought came in to question if what I really felt was the Spirit, it was one of the most scariest thoughts I have ever had. But I remember that those feelings are real and nothing can counterfeit them, not even Satan can give us those feelings that come from our Heavenly Father. Thank you so much for your testimonies they made me cry it was great. I am still not good with just talking to random people but hopefully my mission will help me to overcome it. One night we had an appointment get canceled so we didn't know what we were going to do. But we made some visits, and we went to Sister Taylor's house to see about their neighbors that they referred us to meet them. While we were there Sister Jacobson from our ward stopped by and we asked them before we left if there was anyone they could think of for us to visit. Sister Jacobson told us of this lady she visit teaches, she is less active so we went over there. She was there and we were able to get in after I said Sister Jacobson told us to come see her. We spent almost 2 hours with her, it was crazy. But she really needs help, she is so confused and lost. Some of her friends told her that she shouldn't be going to a church where they read outside the bible, meaning she should only go to a church where they only read from the bible and that's pretty crazy. This lady has been to the temple and every thing it is sad to see her fall away so far, she had a testimony and believes its true but she stopped reading the Book of Mormon. But we told her that she needs to get a testimony again and she needs to start reading the Book of Mormon it will help and the Atonement is here to help us we must use it and rely on it. We all fall short of the glory of God and need a savior. But the spirit was so strong in her home that night. She lost her husband a year ago and a month, to the exact date we were there. When I saw the tattoo on her arm of the date her husband died I almost started crying because I knew in that instant that only God could work that miracle in placing us in her house one month to the exact date (one year later) from the passing of her husband. God works in mysterious ways but when they come together they are the most glorious things to behold.

 

We are going to the temple May 18 I was thinking the 17 but its the 18 so I am super excited about that. It has been too long since going to the temple I don't like waiting this long to attend. But I am torn in a way with this next transfer. I really want to see Waymond and our other investigators get baptized, it would be so amazing. But I know it is what ever God sees fit. I was thinking that it would be cool to stay here next transfer and then the following transfer get moved to Fallon but that probably won't happen. So Waymond one of our investigators he lives kitty corner (sp?) from the Andrews, he said his first vocal prayer last week. He says he won't pray for himself but he will pray for other people and give thanks so he gave thanks for us in the prayer. It was amazing we asked him how he felt and he said wierd but good, and then he started crying. It was so cool, and he has been reading the chapters we have been asking him to read. He is progressing a lot but has a long way to go before he can get baptized, so tomorrow night we are going to teach him about the plan of salvation. I am going to have so many stories to tell you both when i see you.

 

So this past Friday we had a lesson with Debbie the one who came into the church on general conference wanting to get baptized. She has come so far since that time she has been so blessed, she has a family within the ward now it is great to see, and she is possibly getting a job soon. But we went over there and had Bro Decker come with. It was hard at first the lesson was all over the place she had so many questions and Bro Decker just wanted to answer them all and he was talking quite a bit, but he tried to get it refocused a few times by directing it back to us. But boy I thought we were never going to get through the first lesson with her that night. But thankfully we did, and it was so amazing. It was funny when I was doing the first vision after I quoted Joseph Smith she said well he really didnt see God and Jesus Christ because no one can in the flesh. I seriously had the biggest smile on my face when she was saying this. I was thinking oh you have no idea just wait and listen. After that I bore my testimony it was the best thing, the Spirit was so strong it took over me, he directed me on what to say and I knew that there was no way she could deny it. It was the greatest moment that night. She already has a testimony of the Book of Mormon and of Joseph Smith. She said when she was reading it she thought she had heartburn so she went to take some tums but it didnt help. We told her that was the Holy Ghost bearing witness of the truth of the book and what we have been saying, she literally started crying. It was one of those moments where I felt the happiness of Heavenly Father and got to witness someone gain a testimony to come to that realization of this gospel, it was the best thing ever. Those goals that I wrote before I left have just been blown away, I know that I will get to see all of them on my mission and maybe have one fulfilled after but when I looked at them they seemed pretty weak in a sense because all that I have experienced has gone beyond those goals and beyond my expectations. Struggles will come and I know they will, a mission is hard work and talking to people about the gospel is hard because of rejection but those moments like Debbies and Waymonds make up for all the rejection we recieve, it makes it worth doing what it is I am doing. I am so grateful to be able to help others come unto Christ and recieve so many blessings, and ultimately return back to the presence of our Heavenly Father.

 

I am so happy to hear about Cheyenne it will be the best day of her life, tell her and make sure she records that day, what happened but especially how she felt because those moments and those feelings will help her so much when things come into her life and make her struggle. I think sometimes we make things harder than they really are, we lose focus and forget the most important things in life. But that is why I love the atonement so much, with it every burden we have will be lifted. Christ wants to take our burdens from off of our shoulders we just have to be willing to allow him to do so, to go to him and ask him to take them. I am learning that I have to pray every night for Heavenly Father to take my burdens from me. I love you both so much and miss you bunches, of oats.

Love Heather Baby Little One

PS This transfer has flown by so fast this time is going to end so quickly I can feel it. But it will be worth it I can see myself change in so many ways already. Its great. Keep up the work with sharing the gospel Heavenly Father will bless you when you open your mouth to share his word D&C 84:88 (scripture that sums up the mission so far)

Heather's 3rd Week in Vegas!!!

Here is another email we got from Heather, not as long as last week's but still a little bit to read:

Mom & Dad!

How are you both doing? Thank you so much for the emails. I loved them, though mom your emails took me a while to read but its okay I loved them. Thank you! I am glad you two were able to go to the temple this past Friday. I cant wait to go, our date is May 17th so I dont know if thats a different date than I told you. But they officially announced it in our District meeting. So the other night we were at one of the ward buildings and I was snooping around and found some picture boxes. They were like those white cards with a picture in the middle, like grandpa has.(She is talking about slides!) Well they had some of those and I was looking at them. They were of the Las Vegas temple being built!!!! It was so awesome, they had some amazing pictures of them in that box there were tons of boxes like the one I was looking at. It was SO cool. Oh I saw a shooting star the other night and I thought of you mom. I remember the last shooting star I saw was when we were driving to the Stake center for me to go get set apart. It was so cool, I knew when i saw that one with you I would remember you when i saw the next one. It was pretty awesome!! Oh I saw a little girl in RS yesterday and I talked to her mom, she was like 8 months old maybe. She was standing and grabing stuff so she isnt 4 months but she is super small and SO cute. Oh someone asked me yesterday if I knew a Heather Clevenger. I laughed and said yes thats me, it was funny but I guess there is another heather Clevenger around here who is married. Pretty crazy I told them I wanted to get together with them and see if we are related or how far back it goes.

We had 2 baptisms for the YSA ward on Saturday and we got two of our investigators to go to it. Pretty cool. There are three of the four investigators that we are teaching really want to get baptized. We are going hiking next monday I am pretty excited about it. Sister Cook is an awesome lady, she is so sweet. She said during a lesson that she wants her sons to meet a few of us after our mission. hahaha pretty funny.  We have three baptism dates set so far, one on June 4, one set for April 30 and we have another one set for May 7th.

Our transfer day is May 2 and 3 we find out April 30th if we are moving. I found out that the Mission President takes the leaving Missionaries to the temple so i will be able to go to the Las Vegas temple before I leave my mission. I really cant believe I have been here for 3 weeks, everyone keeps asking me how long I have been here and i forget. But it has been six weeks since I have left home, thats half a semester at BYUI. It has gone by super fast, but it has been so fun and really good. There are struggles but its good I am learning from them. Also we had 15 lessons this past week and we are going to strive to get 20 lessons this week. Most of them are Less actives or recent converts but its still good. So one day we were coming into the Library and some lady stopped us and gave us 20 dollars to go get lunch, pretty awesome! This months goal for the ward here is to share the Living Christ with someone and I think the other thing is to serve in the community. So thats their goal, pretty great, I am learning so much. It will be great they have like 5 couples for ward member missionaries, they go out with us to lessons and help fellowship less actives and things like that its really great. Well I want to write more but it took a lot of time to read moms emails so, sorry. But we do have an activity every monday, I found out that they have an indoor rock building here in our area I am super excited about. Well that is it for now! Sorry it took me so long to update the blog! I hope you enjoy reading this, even though it is very long and have a great week!